Sustainable development, a popular idea of balanced, equal and participatory development, dominates the debates about the region. Even research about the region often takes sustainable development as a starting point. However, the progress towards reaching this goal seems slow and sustainable development unreachable. These observations make us ask: What makes development sustainable in the Arctic in different political, economic and social contexts? What kind of social and political imaginaries we have and should have for the Arctic? Do our imaginaries match our means and practices? Are there any attractive, viable alternatives for sustainable development? How do different imaginaries motivate or improve current policies and strategies? What kinds of missed voices and ideas there are about development in the Arctic? How do emotions of hope, fear and uncertainty relate to the Arctic future?

The symposium is organized by the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland. Symposium is the side event for the Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit Conference 2019, which will take place on 12-13 November 2019.

Keynote speaker
The keynote speaker will be professor Reetta Toivanen (Helsinki Institute for Sustainability Science, University of Helsinki, Finland). Her topic is “Whose development are we talking about? European fantasies on the Arctic” The presentation address the paradigm that places the people living in the Arctic area, still centuries after the voyages of Pytheas (325 BC) and other European explores, as the object of a European fantasy. Residents of the Arctic are in this paradigm framed as guardians of the treasure chest that is the Arctic and as an ancient people of ‘nature’ rather than “culture” and thus doomed to the unpolitical. The presentation will discuss the different political, economic and military interests that intertwined with this fantasy and ask who could be the beneficiary of the development projects.

PROGRAM  14-15 Nov 2019
(changes are possible)
University of Lapland, main building (Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi)

Open program in PDF format


Thursday 14.11.2019 Eelin Sali
Chairperson: Monica Tennberg
Link for streaming

9.00 Monica Tennberg, University of Lapland: Opening words

9.15-10.15 Reetta Toivanen, University of Helsinki: Whose development are we
talking about? European fantasies on the Arctic

10.15-10.30 Coffee

10.30-11.00 Liubov Timonina, The Arctic Institute: Imagining and narrating development in the Arctic: Visual storytelling in times of Capitalocene

11.00-11.30 Timo Jokela & Maria Huhmarniemi, University of Lapland: Art and culture supporting renewable economies in the Arctic

11.30-12.00 Hannah Strauss-Mazzullo, University of Lapland: Sustainability as a practical problem

12.00-13.00 Lunch in Felli (cabinet) for presenters and invited guests


Panel 1 Room SS04
Chairperson: Adrian Braun

13.00-13.30 Gerard Duhaime, Université Laval: Market inequalities and the reproduction of unsustainability in Nunavik

13.30-14.00 Panu Itkonen, University of Lapland: The economic sustainability of the Skolt Sami

14.00-14.30 Marjo Lindroth, University of Lapland: Greenland and the elusive better future: the affective merging of resources and independence

14.30-14.45 Coffee

14.45-15.15 Jennifer L.L. Carroll, University of Alaska Fairbanks: Development dilemmas: Rural development students imagining a sustainable future in Alaska

15.15-15.45 Philippe Boucher, Concordia University: Sustainable development through the Inuit cooperative movement

15.45-16.15 Mathieu Boivin, University of Montréal: Quebec’s “North Plan”- What’s left for Northern indigenous communities? Can the North bring its riches back?

16.15- Concluding words


Panel 2 Meeting room, Faculty of Social Sciences
Chairperson: Hannah Strauss-Mazzullo
Link for streaming

13.00-13.30 Olga Khlebosolova, Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian State University for Geological Prospecting: Perspectives on Arctic sustainability programs: Student interview results

13.30-14.00 Edouard Galimullin, Russian Academy of National Economic and Public Administration: Snow, cold and polar bears: A study of Russian youth attitudes towards life and work in the Arctic

14.00-14.30 Joonas Vola, University of Lapland: ‘Person substitute’. Public art in performing political economy and socio-cultural sustainability in the Arctic

14.30-14.45 Coffee

14.45-15.15 Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen, University of Lapland: When gender matters: Equality as a source of Arctic sustainability?

15.15-15.45 Emily Höckert, Outi Kugabi & Monika Lüthje, University of Lapland: Hosts and guests in participatory development

15.45-16.15 Monica Tennberg, University of Lapland: Arctic, urban and international? The case of Rovaniemi

16.15- Concluding words



19.00 Dinner for presenters and invited guests: Roka Kitchen & Winebar, Koskikatu 8




Friday 15.11.2019 Eelin sali
Chairperson: Hanna Lempinen
Link for streaming

9.15-9.45 Daria Burnasheva, Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts: Arctic identity: between frontier and homeland

9.45-10.15 Susanna Pirnes, University of Lapland: The idea of space in the context of Russian Arctic

10.15-10.30 Coffee break

10.30-11.00 Aaron Cooper, Coventry University: Frozen or Fluid? Exploring Arctic Environment protection in the context of geopolitical competition.

11.00-11.30 Cezary Koscielniak, Adam Mickiewicz University: The role of Arctic in the geopolitical changing from the Polish perspective

11.30-12.00 Braun Adrian, University of Lapland/University of Eastern Finland: The relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social license to operate (SLO) in Barents region mining

12.00-12.15 Concluding words

12.15- Lunch

Deadline for registration

If you prefer to participate to the symposium without presenting a paper, please register your participation before 31.10.2019. by sending an email to Monica Tennberg: monica.tennberg(at)ulapland.fi

More information

Symposium organizer, research professor Monica Tennberg
Northern political economy research group, Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland
monica.tennberg(at)ulapland.fi

#NPESymposium

Links for streaming:

14.11. Morning

14.11. Afternoon/Panel2

15.11. Morning.

WELCOME!